A/N: First of all I want to apologize for the fact it's been forever since I have updated. I was on Thanksgiving break for a while, so I didn't have much time to write and when I came back to college, wasn't working correctly so I was unable to upload new documents. Anyway, we're in good shape now right? Let's see if I can remember how I wanted to write this story. Lol
Dean knocked on the door of the Gilmore/Danes house. He took a deep breath as the door opened and instead of seeing Rory, a tall dark haired man with a ball cap answered.
"Um… Hi." Dean replied nervously. "Is this Rory Gilmore's house?"
Luke eyed the young boy over. His immediate opinion was he was a little nerdy and awkward like Lorelai had described him the night before. He appeared harmless. Luke broke a tiny smile.
"Yes, it is." He opened the door wider. "Come in. Rory will be ready in a few minutes."
"Thanks." Dean slowly stepped inside the house.
Luke lead the boy into the living room. "So, going to a movie?" Luke asked.
"Yeah…" Dean replied as he took a seat on the couch.
"Which one?"
"The 7:00 one."
"What's it called?"
"Well, we haven't really picked one yet. Rory said she'd like to see what's playing first." Dean swallowed heavily. Rory hadn't mentioned her father was so intimidating.
Luke sat down across from Dean. "So, the movie should be over with around 8:30… 9:00 at the latest…"
"Should be." Dean agreed. "Also, I figured if Rory wanted to get some coffee… I mean, if it's okay with you."
"Sure, sure… coffee is good. Just as long as Rory's back by 10:00."
"She'll be back before 10:00." Dean replied.
"Even better." Luke smiled.
Lorelai walked into the room and noticed a young boy sitting on her couch. She cast Luke an awkward look and then focused back on the boy.
"You must be Dean?" Lorelai asked as she came around to his side of the couch.
Dean stood up. "Yes, ma'am."
"Hi, I'm Lorelai." Lorelai extended her hand.
"Nice to meet you." Dean returned the hand shake.
Lorelai noticed the boy was very tall and handsome. No wonder Rory had agreed to go out with him. "I think Rory's almost ready, but I'll go and let her know you're here." Lorelai ended with a smile.
"Thanks." Dean replied and sat back down.
"So, you're new in town?" Luke began.
"Yeah… just been here a few weeks."
"Where are you from?"
"Chicago."
Luke leaned forward. "Chicago? A lot of bad things can happen in a big city like that. I hope you stayed out of trouble."
Dean let out a nervous chuckle. "I did, sir. I've never been in any trouble… ever. I've never even cheated on a test."
Convinced that Dean was as innocent of a boy as Rory could have picked, Luke leaned back into his chair. "Did you ever go to White Sox game?"
"All the time." Dean replied easily. "My family had season tickets."
"Is that so?"
"Are you a fan?"
Luke nodded. "I like to watch them play. More of a Boston man myself."
Dean laughed. "I figured you'd say Yankees."
"I hate the Yankees." Luke replied. "They win too much."
Feeling much more at ease and comfortable, Dean began to forget how nervous he had been all day. "You know, a lot of people say that."
"Hey, truth is truth."
"If anyone deserves to win the world series next season it's Boston… And I'm not just saying that."
"Yeah, they deserve the win, but if Clay Titter doesn't step and start coaching his players better, they're not getting anywhere."
Rory walked into the room and noticed Luke and Dean were having a very friendly conversation. She cleared her throat to make herself known. Dean turned his head and saw her standing behind him. He jumped up from the couch.
"Hey."
"Hey." Rory smiled. "Sorry for making you wait."
"It's okay. I was just talking to your dad about baseball." Dean looked back at Luke.
Rory looked over at Luke who had an apologetic look on his face. Luke didn't mean to act as Rory's father; it had just came so natural to him. Which, Luke was her stepfather. That counted for something, right?
"Oh? Well, he loves baseball." Rory replied. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, if you are." Dean assisted Rory with her coat and they headed towards the door.
"It was nice meeting you. Bye, Mr. Gilmore." Dean replied as he closed the door behind him.
Luke laughed to himself and then went in search of Lorelai. He found her a few minutes later folding some laundry in their bathroom. He came up behind her and put his arms around her.
"I'm surprised you wasn't downstairs to see Rory off on her first date."
Lorelai turned around quickly. "They left already?!" Lorelai obviously hadn't intentionally missed the seeing off.
"A few minutes ago." Lorelai attempted to bolt around Luke. Luke grabbed her. "They're long gone." He laughed. "It's okay. I checked him out. He's safe."
"What do you mean you checked him out?" Lorelai asked.
"I talked to him for a little bit… asked a few questions." Luke replied.
"God, I knew I should have came straight back into the living room. When I dated, you didn't leave as soon as your date got here, you made them wait at least ten minutes before you even came into the room, then you hung around and let the parents evaluate him."
"Lorelai, that isn't true." Luke smiled. "I know you never did that.."
"Yeah, well it sounded good." Lorelai remarked.
"Don't worry… it's fine. You've talked to Rory all day about this date. I'm sure she has every based covered."
"Yeah… I guess it is kind of better that I wasn't there when she left."
"Yeah, you might have done something embarrassing."
"Probably." Lorelai agreed. "But I can be right here when she gets home and do all the embarrassing things I want." Lorelai went back to folding her laundry.
"You know, Dean thought I was Rory's dad." Luke randomly threw out.
She turned around quickly. "What did he say?"
"Well, when Rory walked in, he told he'd been talking to her dad about baseball."
Lorelai squinted her eyes. "Oh, no…"
"It's okay." Luke quickly replied. "Rory played right along with it."
"She did?"
"Yeah." Luke smiled. "What was really funny was when Dean left, he said 'Bye, Mr. Gilmore.'"
"Well, I guess she didn't want to embarrass Dean by saying anything."
"Or… maybe she kind of sees me as her dad."
"I'm sure she sees you as a father figure…." Lorelai said carefully. "But I don't think she sees you as her dad."
"Well, I am her step-dad." Luke noted. "But what's it matter? I mean I helped her raise her until she was two… I'm helping now."
"Yeah, and it's so wonderful that you're so loving and accepting of her, but DNA wise…"
"What's DNA got to do with anything?" Luke asked sharply. "Come on, you of all people should understand that."
"I do understand that…" Lorelai defended. "But, I don't think Rory considers you a father… and I don't think she'll ever call you dad."
"Who said anything about her calling me dad?"
"You kind of make it seem like you want her to."
Luke's voice rose a little. "I never said that."
"Well, you implied it." Lorelai remarked. "Look, I just don't want your feelings to get hurt."
"My feelings aren't going to get hurt. I know Rory sees me as more than just your new husband. You told her about how we used to live together, right?"
"Yes… I told her a few months ago." Lorelai placed her hand to her forehead. She regretted saying anything at all.
"So who has the problem here, you or her?"
"What?"
"I'm saying, are you the one who doesn't want her to seem me as her father?"
"Luke…"
"Just answer the question, Lorelai."
"I don't know…" Lorelai replied annoyed.
"What are you going to do, hunt Chris down? Are you gonna say 'Here, Rory…. This is your father. Don't pay any attention to the fact he's walking away from us.'"
"Don't make light of this situation, Luke. Rory knows Chris walked away. I told her that he walked away."
"Did you tell her who stayed, Lorelai? Did you mention who picked up the pieces when it all fell apart?" Luke's voice became raspy.
"I stayed." Lorelai stressed. "I picked up pieces too."
"Who helped you?" Luke asked. "When Chris left… When Joan died…"
"What do you want a freaking Oscar?!" Lorelai shouted.
Luke paused for several seconds. "I just want the credit I deserve. That's all." He replied coolly. He turned and walked out of the bathroom leaving Lorelai very frustrated and confused.